Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1887-03-18
Making Great Guns.

England's big guns are made OF bars
coiled spirally and welded into a solid
mass by the hammer, says scorrespond-
ent of the Boston Herald. These red
hot furnaces contain a straight bar; at
a word the door is slightly raised, and
with huge nippers its head is seized by
loops made for the purpose. A steam
winch draws out the glowing mass and
/ brings ii 10 horizontal cap>tan liked
/ before the door. A water hose is turned
upon the loop, and while il blackens nn-
/ der The chill. staiwart fellow, wield-
ing heavy sledge, fixes the loop on
nut projecting from the capstan wheel.
! Then the machine revolves with resist
less force. curling the hot metal round
and round on its drum neatly and
smoothly, and as easily as girls would
wind ribbon. so the coil IL formed,
whether for the breech piece or the
body of the gun or for its jacket. This
again is cooled, and after while is re-
fined for welding under the hammer.
You ought TO see this woolwieh ham
mer. Ii weighs forty tons sheer weight,
and when it ropS il tails forty feet on
to a block that rests on spiles, massive
masonry, and enormous quantities Of
! iron. Between two shafts this hammer
is suspended, a solid block, which driv-
EN- from above by steam and gathering
impetus as it falls. strikes with a force
of many hundred tons. 4 veteran
workman has charge of this massive
hammer. He starts and drops it by
touch of his thumb and finger. saw
an open. faced watch laid OIL the block;
then he dropped the hammer, and he
stopped it just in time to break thecr
| tal-and nothing more. They call tails
last operation OF the furnace the great
heat" and abou: every monarch there
is in Europe has seen IL, just as | did
yesterday. While | am wondering
what they thought about, the furnace to
be empiied is haring with impatience.
Through the interstces of its great door
blue, red and purple flames are leaping
out. a huge crane swings round n pair
of piucers, at the end of which q dozen
Britons cluster. The door rises a little,
the white light blinds us, and, although
| am at least twenty yards away the
Water is thrown into the awful gap,
and then the men perceive their prey.
The huge arms part and firmly close,
the door rises to its fullest extent, a
clash of the crane gear, a shout from the
men and out il comes, easily and softly,
a monstrous coil. The crane swings
about ard places it upon end upon the
anvil. Then the hammer falls, shaking
the solid floor beneath us, crushing the
red hot mass inches down at blow,
welding its coils together so that they
can never part. But the inside hollow
has been knocked out of shape by this
process; so when the tube has been re-
duced 10 It's proper length, a solid man
drill is deftly slipped between the ham
mer and the iron. For two or three
blows the contracted coil attempts re.
sistance, but it gives way, and the man
drill slips to its base, as into butter.
Then the great piUcers are used again,
and it drops the mass on its side, where
again il is battered and struck all round.
The irregularities caused by all this
hammering are afterward renewed by
the plane, and then the gun is made by
other machinery.